Just curious - hope you don't mind me asking

[Ladymuck]

Not everyone tells the truth, and not everyone understands what they've been told.

It is however unlikely that a school would offer a 100% scholarship based on academic merit without advertising that fact very clearly to anyone who might be interested in applying. So if the website indicates that only scholarships of up to 5% are awarded, it is very unlikely that there is additionally a single 100% award. Schools have to justify their scholarship and bursary pot carefully (after all the other parents are usually having to pay more as a result). You would also be able to get the accounts of the school on the Charity Commission website - these will often give more details on scholarships and bursaries.

If the school is an HMC school then they have agreed that the sum of non-means-tested awards should not exceed 50% of fees. However, even here, exceptions are made eg Whitgift have a fully funded boarding scholarship available for a worldclass musician http://www.whitgift.co.uk/wimc.aspx.

It is possible that this isn't a school scholarship/bursary, but an award made by another body. That said, I suspect that they are as rare as 100% scholarships.

[BucksBornNBred]

Interesting, Ladymuck. It does appear that this is an HMC school (which might narrow down which one it is!) I did wonder if it was a case of Chinese whispers or Hyacinth Bucketism! So I am guessing from all of this that it is more likely that they might have a 50% maximum scholarship.

Just to make it clear, I asked the question purely out of curiousity; I really do wish her and her family the best and really don't care if they are paying full whack or not (that is their problem not mine!). But reading all the posts on here about scholarships/bursaries made me wonder if it was possible

[PurpleDuck]

Just to make it clear, I asked the question purely out of curiousity; I really do wish her and her family the best and really don't care if they are paying full whack or not (that is there problem not mine!). But reading all the posts on here about scholarships/bursaries made me wonder if it was possible

I don't think anyone would question your motives at all, in fact I am quite curious myself.

[kenyancowgirl]

Scholarships at 50% are very rare - most are 5-25%. There are the odd exception - funded in part by external bodies or Foundations (and are not usually referred to as scholarships) - my son was awarded a 100% Founding Bodies Grant, (or something like that!!) which we chose not to take up as he was offered a place at a far more suitable school.

It could be true but is more likely that any award is made up of a mixture of scholarship and bursary and it is pride that makes the recipient refer to it as a 100% scholarship.

[loobylou]

I believe (and I'm pretty sure I confirmed the information for myself a few years ago but haven't time to check it now) that NLCS offers a 100% scholarship for anyone who has managed to get a distinction in grade 5 (for a musical instrument) by the time of applying - and who also gets through an audition (and presumably passes the exam?) Apparently this is not well known either but dd's music teacher suggested it for her (she did not get a distinction so it turned out to be irrelevent) and I think I did find it on their website at the time. So maybe there are relatively less well-known scholarships out there?

[mike1880]

Their website says music scholarships are up to 50%. It doesn't say whether they can be combined with an academic scholarship.

[nyr]

loobylou, I think that's unlikely. Even though Latymer guarantee a place to children with Grade 5 Distinction who do reasonably well in their CEM paper, there is no way that NLCS would award music 100% music scholarships to anyone who "passed the audition" and exam - there are simply too many candidates with Grade 5+ Distinction on multiple instruments and RA or GH Saturday places. Believe me, there are!

[loobylou]

loobylou, I think that's unlikely. Even though Latymer guarantee a place to children with Grade 5 Distinction who do reasonably well in their CEM paper, there is no way that NLCS would award music 100% music scholarships to anyone who "passed the audition" and exam - there are simply too many candidates with Grade 5+ Distinction on multiple instruments and RA or GH Saturday places. Believe me, there are!

I swear I found mention of it somewhere though. I will have to have a look sometime! I remember thinking that the music teacher must be wrong and then being shocked when he wasn't.

ETA: I can't find any mention of it. Maybe my memory was wrong or maybe things have changed (this would have been 4 years ago when I was looking). Apologies for misleading anyone!!

[Loopyloulou]

HMC schools are limited to 50% scholarship awards. This is cumulative so you can't get 50% academic + 50% music = 100% overall. There are a few historical exceptions, such as the King's Scholars at Eton. Also the limit applies to awards made by the schools themselves, and not by grant-making bodies.
Scholarships can be augmented by bursaries, to 100% and beyond.
(NLCS is not HMC).

[PurpleDuck]

Scholarships can be augmented by bursaries, to 100% and beyond.

What do you mean by '100% and beyond', Loopyloulou? Would a child be effectively paid for going to school in a case like that?